Hurt flinched across Wolf’s face, but it was Ran who spoke. “What exactly have you told her, brother?”
Wolf stood, forcing Ran to tilt back his head to hold his stare. “She knows I’m no longer a brother to you,” he said. “And she knows that no one with that mark can be trusted.”
Ran smiled at the irony. “Is that all?”
“I know you have my grandmother!” she yelled, startling a flock of swallows out of the nearest tree. Once their flapping had gone quiet, the woods settled into a thick hush, Scarlet’s words still ringing. Her hand started to shake and she forced it to be still, though Ran continued to sit sprawled and at ease on the shore.
“You have my grandmother,” she said, more slowly this time. “Don’t you?”
“Well. Not with me…”
White sparks flashed across Scarlet’s vision, and it took all her willpower not to pull the trigger and erase his smugness. “Why are you following us?” she said when the throbbing rage had become a manageable simmer.
She could see him calculating his response. Planting his palm on the rocky shore, Ran pushed himself to standing and brushed the dirt from his hands. “I’ve been sent to retrieve my brother,” he said, as casually as if he’d been sent to the store for milk and bread. “Perhaps he did not tell you that he and I are part of an elite pack given a special assignment. That assignment has been canceled, and Master Jael wants us to return. All of us.”
Scarlet’s stomach tightened at Ran’s meaningful look, but Wolf’s expression was filled with more distrust and shadows than it had ever been.
“I’m not coming back,” he said. “Jael no longer controls me.”
Ran sniffed. “I doubt that. And you know as well as anyone that we don’t allow our brothers to leave us.” He rolled his sleeve down over the tattoo. “Though I confess, I haven’t missed having one less alpha around.”
The wind shifted, sending sparks from the fire into Scarlet’s face and she stumbled back, blinking them away.
“Did you really think it wise to come here, without Jael to protect you?” said Wolf.
“I don’t need Jael’s protection.”
“That would be a first.”
With a snarl, Ran leaped forward, but Wolf danced out of his reach and retaliated with a fist aimed at Ran’s jaw. Ran blocked, grasping Wolf’s fist and using the momentum to spin Wolf around and lock his elbow around Wolf’s neck. Wolf reached back, grasped Ran’s shoulder, and flipped Ran over his head. Ran landed with a solid grunt, his feet smacking the water.
He was up again in a blink.
Scarlet’s hand trembled, the gun dancing between the two, her pulse galloping. Ran was shaking with smothered rage, while Wolf was carved from rock, shrewd and calculating.
“I really do think it’s time for you to return, brother,” Ran said through clenched teeth.
Wolf shook his head, damp spikes of hair flopping onto his forehead. “You never were a match for me.”
“I think you’ll find me somewhat improved, Alpha.”
Wolf snorted and Scarlet sensed he didn’t believe Ran could ever be a genuine opponent. “Is this why you followed us? You saw your chance to improve your rank—to defeat me away from the pack?”
“I told you why I’m here. Jael sent for you. The assignment is canceled. When he finds out about this rebellion of yours—”
Wolf launched at Ran, knocking him onto his back. Ran’s head landed in the water and Scarlet heard a sickening crunch as it collided with the hard stones beneath the surface. She screamed and ran toward them, digging her nails into Wolf’s arm.
“No, stop! He might be able to tell us something!”
Wolf’s sharp canines were bared as he pulled a fist back and landed a punch to Ran’s face.
“WOLF! Stop it! My grandmother! He knows about—Wolf, let him go!”
When he didn’t relent, Scarlet fired a warning shot into the air. The echo filled the clearing—but Wolf was unfazed. Ran’s arms stopped flailing, slipped weakly down Wolf’s forearms, and dropped into the water.
“You’re going to kill him!” she shrieked. “Wolf! WOLF!”
As a last burst of bubbles rose up from Ran’s mouth, Scarlet stepped back, let out a breath, and pulled the trigger again.
Wolf hissed and fell onto his side. He clasped his hand over his left arm, where blood was already seeping into the cloth of his sleeve. But it wasn’t a deep wound. The bullet had barely grazed him.
He blinked up at Scarlet. “Did you just shoot me?”
“You didn’t leave me much choice.” With ringing ears, Scarlet fell to her knees and heaved Ran up by his shoulders, laying him back down at an awkward angle on the shore. He rolled onto his side, left eye already swelling shut and watered-down blood dripping down his nose and jaw. With a rattling cough, more blood and water spilled out of his mouth, puddling onto the sand.
Releasing a strangled breath, Scarlet glanced back up at Wolf. He hadn’t moved, but his expression had shed the maniacal anger for something akin to admiration.
“When you greeted me with a gun on your doorstep,” he said, “it’s nice to know you meant it.”
Scarlet scowled at him. “Honestly, Wolf. What are you thinking? He could tell us something. He could help get my grandma back!”
His half smile softened, and for a moment he looked sorry. For her. “He won’t talk.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“That’s not a good enough answer!”
“Watch your gun.”
“Wha—” She dropped her gaze to the shore beside her, just in time to see Ran wrap his fingers around the gun’s handle. She grasped the barrel and snatched it away from him.
An exhausted chuckle brought more bloodied spittle to Ran’s lips. “I will kill you one day, brother. If Jael doesn’t first.”
“Stop provoking him!” Scarlet yelled. Climbing to her feet, out of Ran’s reach, she reset the safety and shoved the gun back into the waist of her jeans. “You’re not exactly in any position to be making threats right now, anyway.”
Ran said nothing. His eyes had closed, his lips left hanging open with a smear of blood on his cheek, taking in slow, rattling breaths.
Disgusted, she turned back to Wolf, watching as he peeled his hand away from his wound and stared with surprise at the blood coating his palm. He leaned over on his elbow and swished his hand around in the water to get the stain off.
With a sigh, she scrambled to her forgotten bag and pulled out a small first-aid kit. Wolf didn’t argue as she ripped open the tear in his sleeve caused by the bullet and took over the job of washing and bandaging the wound. The bullet had just grazed his bicep.
“I’m sorry I shot you,” she said, “but you were going to kill him.”
“I still might,” Wolf said, watching her hands.
She shook her head, taping off the bandage. “He’s not your real brother, is he? That’s just a gang thing, isn’t it?”
Wolf grunted. Said nothing.
“Wolf?”
“I never said we got along.”
Scarlet peered up at the wild contempt filling Wolf’s face. His green eyes were burning, staring at Ran’s prone body behind her.
“Good.”
The ferocity in her voice startled away some of his hatred and Wolf turned his attention back to her.
“You must know his weaknesses. You’ll know how best to question him.”
That sympathetic look again. “We’re trained to withstand questioning. He won’t help us.”
“But he already gave us some information.” Packing up the remains of the kit, she tossed it toward her bag. It missed the opening and slid down to the ground. “He obviously knew something when I asked about my grandma. And then this assignment that was canceled—what’s that about? Does it have something to do with her?”